Physical and Occupational Therapists as well as families with a disabled child desire a simple device that can be used to assist them in training those in their care to crawl and to walk. In the past trainers have mainly used their hands to hold the trainee around the waist or torso, but this involves bending over or stooping which places the trainer in a weakened position and prone to injury. Some trainers use various types of infant walkers, which may reduce the load they need to support but provides little other assistance. Many harnesses have been devised by others not only for such therapeutic purposes but also for teaching such recreational abilities as skiing and skating. Full Body Harnesses exist in the marketplace for various purposes such as rock climbing and hang gliding, but these are not well suited to the immediate requirements discussed here.
The support harness for a young child described by Epstein in U.S. Pat. No. 5,435,272 shows a combination of shoulder and leg straps held in place by a belt. To this harness is attached an overhead loop to which two separate leashes are attached in turn. This provision for two handholds might have been suitable for the current application had the two not been removed some distance from the shoulders by their attachment to the single loop between the shoulders. This additional layer of connections removes control of the trainee from the trainer.
In his U.S. Pat. No. 6,338,699 Veitch describes a child sport activity-training device comprising a harness that enables support of a torso of a child with a handgrip grasped by the hand of a trainer. The design of Veitch uses a single overhead loop attached to shoulder straps to serve both for support and guidance or control. In the context of the present discussion, in comparison to Epstein, it appears that Veitch has simply removed the two leashes so that a trainer is placed closer to the trainee. This sacrifices control at some distance in favor of better support. While the device of Veitch may be suitable for support of a relatively able-bodied child, it affords very little control to the trainer.
In order to achieve more reliable support and better control for more challenging trainees, it is necessary to separate these functions. Handholds closer to the shoulder will provide more reliable support. Better control can be achieved by separating the single leash loop of Veitch to provide the trainer with two independent leashes that, when attached directly to the shoulder straps, may be used for more subtle directional guidance as well as for tighter control. The addition of a handle at the back nearer the waist and closer to the center of gravity of the trainee will provide both much greater control and support in some working situations, especially when the trainee is crawling or attempting to stand from a prone or sitting position.